repentance

“..give thanks to Him, especially those who have received from Him the power to renew their holy baptism through repentance, because without repentance no one can be saved.” – St Peter of Damaskos

“First pray for the gift of tears, so that through sorrowing you may tame what is savage in your soul. And having confessed transgressions to the Lord, you will obtain forgiveness from Him.” – St. Evagrios the Solitary

“No one will ever prove from the divine Scriptures that any person was ever cleansed without tears and constant compunction. No one ever became holy  or recieved the Holy Spirit, or had the vision of God experienced His dwelling within himself, or ever had Him dwelling in his heart, without previous repentance and compunction and constant tears ever flowing as from a fountain. Such tears flood and wash out the house of the soul: they moisten and refresh the soul that has been possesed and inflamed by the unapproachable fire.” – St. Symeon the New Theologian